Wringer



BfS. NICCUTCHEN. WRINGER..

APPLICATION HLED DEc.18, 1920.

1 ,1.29 2246, Pateneept. E9, 1922.

Patented Sept. 19,- 1922.

unirse sirarss igiene .earner erstes.

WRINGER.

A Application led December 18, 1920. Serial No. 431,601.

T oaZZ whom 'it may concern Be it known that I, .BRUNsoN S. Mo- CU'roiemN, a citizen of the United States of ,American residing at North Plainlield, in the county of Somerset and State of New Jersey, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Wringers, of which the following is a specification.

My invention relates to power wringers for washing machines and has for its object to provide means whereby a parallel or uniform separation of the pressure rolls is obtained regardlessof whether articles are run through the rolls centrally or at their ends- Another object of my invention is to compensate for the increased pressure which or-A dinarily occurs between the rolls as the latter are separated.-

A still further object of my invention is to provide a simple mechanism whereby the compression between the rolls will be automatically removed when the rolls have been forced apart a predetermined distance.

A still further object of my invention is to provide a common means whereby the rolls or mangle elements are maintained in parallelism and whereby the rolls are subjected to a substantially constant pressure restraining their separation.

A still further object of my invention is to provide convenient manual means for setting the rolls to the desired compression and for conveniently releasing the same.

Other and further objects of the invention will be in part obvious and in part described as the specification is proceeded with.

In thedrawings forming part of this spe# cication:

Figure'l is a vertical sectional view partly broken away through a wringer made in accordance with my lnvention;

yFigure 2 is a section on the line 2-2 of Figure 1; and

Figure 3 is a section on the line 3---3 of Figure 1.

Like reference characters indicate like or similar parts throughout the several views,

A designates a y substantially tubular wringer frame formed with vertical side members 1 and a horizontal top member 2. Having its ends rotatably mounted in bearings 3 carried by the vertical side members -is a fixed lower wringer roll' 4, above which is positioned an upper; wringer roll 5. The

upper wringer roll 5 has its ends extending through slots 6 in the vertical side members to bearingblocks 7 movable within the ver-` tical side members to permit a separation of the upper roll 5 with respect to the lower roll in order that various thicknesses or sizes of clothes may be drained. The movable bearing blocks 7i arey provided with ears 8 between which are pivotally connected as at 9 a vertically movable cross beam 10, or in lieu of ears`8, the cross beam may merely bear at its ends upon the top of the respective bearing blocks. The ends of the cross beam 10 are slidably received within sl'otted brackets 11 secured to the frame, and the under side of the horizontal portion of the frame is slotted as at 12 to permit of vertical movement of the cross beam with the upper roller. The length of the beam 10 is such as to permit lof a working clearance inside the hollow frame but prevent any endwise movement-therein. Pivoted above and to the cross beam l0 by means of corresponding pairs of links 13 is a vertically and hori-` zontally movable cross bar 14 and-it will be noted that the cross beam 14 is at all times parallel with the cross beam 10. Other corresponding pairs of links 15 are pivotally secured to the frame as at 16 and to the levers 13 and cross beam 14 and form with the levers 13 substantially .toggle joints the purposes of which are to elevate or lower cross beam 10 and consequently the upper roller 5 upon applying force longitudinally to the upper cross bar 14. It is to be understood that therelative position of the links 13 and 15 is ,approximately as illustrated in Fig. l and that as the levers more nearly approach relative alignment the upper roll is forced with increased pressure against the` lower roll. The vcross beam 10 serves to maintain a fixed distance between the two lower pivots of the toggle arms 13 and also to take care 'of any end thrust developed by the toggle joints.

As a means for applying compression beits lower end straddles the beam 14 and has secured between its upper ends as at25, an operating handle 18, extending above the wringer rame and movable in a slot 19, provided in the frame -for that purpose.' The scroll cam is heldin an inactive position as shown in solid lines in Fig. 1 by coil springs gag,

20, one of the ends lofwhic/h engages the pintle 16 to which the levers 15 are connectedy and the other ends of which are connected with a loop or bail 21 which embraces and rides upon the involutely curved ed e 35 of the cam 17. As illustrated the camY 1 terminates in an enlarged end 22 so that as 'the same is moved through the mediumof the handle 18 as the latter is moved to dotted line position, the springs are expanded and the bail `or loop 21 will slide down the involutely curved edge 85 of the cam 17 and it in both a vertical and 'horizontal direction,-

to elevate until finally engage over a shoulder 23- formed by a bracket 24 attached to the cross-beam consequently tending to bring the levers 13 and 15 more nearly' in relative alignment and thereby causing the upper roller to press with greatly increased pressure upon they lower roller.

From the foregoingit will be obvious that the bar 10 is maintained in parallelism with the working face thereof. Therefore the 'bearings 7 if pivotally connected with this y bar 10=will have the bearing surfaces thereof likewise in parallelism therewith. It then follows that if a relatively thick wad of clothing is inserted at one end of the rollers causing a sudden rise of the corresponding end of the roller 5 the entire pressure of spring 20 will bear against this end causing the opposite or remote end it engages its bearing with sufficient force to counterbalance the force at the end of ro-ller at which the clothing has been introduced. As'

the working face of the roller or mangle element 5 at this time parallels. the working facelsiof the bearin s 7 the working face of the roller 5 is para lel to the workin face of the roller 4. It will be understoo that `l theforegoing is merely a description of the theory upon which theoperation of the roller 5 is based. ln actual practice the elevation of the remote end of the roller is simultaneous with the elevation of the end at which the wad of clothing has been introduced. The mechanism illustrated by parts 7 to 16 and 20 therefore constitutes means for maintaining the working faces of the mangle elements in arallelism. lt will likewise be understoo that the operation of the roll 5 as above set forth is that occurring under abnormal conditions brought about mainly by careless and unskilled handling. Under normal conditions when the clothing passing through the rolls is evenly distributed the p-ressure exerted upon the ends o-f the roll 5 Will-be equal and constant.

Should the4 operator desire to relieve the pressure between the rolls, she merely strikes the handle18, depressing thesame from its full line position to a lpoint adjacent or touching the frame, whereupon the enlarged end 22 of the cam lifts the bail 21 from the shoulder 23 and the pressure exerted by the upper roller upon the lower roller is instantly relieved and therolls are in con` sequence free to separate.

In order to insure the automatic release of the compression whenl the rolls have been forcedl apart a definite predetermined distance, as when the operator gets her hand caught, I attach to the lower cross beam 10 a finger or detent 34 which engages the loop 2'1, forcing the latter upwardly over the shoulder 18 upon movement of the upper roller 5 to approximately its eXtreme upward position, thus automatically releasing the springs and eliminating the pressure between the rolls. As will be noted from the drawings,`the nger or detent 34 comprises a strap of sheet metal or the like embracing the beam 1() with its spaced ends in straddling relation with the 'enlarged end of the cam 1ever17. lt will ofcourse be understood that as the detent moves upwardly as the rolls separate, that-the cross bar 114 is simultaneously moved upwardly and longitudinally or endwise to the right (Fig. 1) until the end of loop 21 is brought into proper position to b e engaged by the detent or finger 34.

As the rolls are forced apart in actual practice, due to increased thickness of clothes being passed between them the angles between the arms of the toggle joints, 13 and 15, decrease and thereby tend to decrease the pressure upon the upper roll at a rate which changes in proportion to twice the tangent of half the above named angle. At the same time the helical springs are elongated. This tends to increase the pressure upon the upper roll at a rate approximately in proportion to the elongation of said springs. Since one aforce is decreasing while the other is increasingfan' approxi,- mately-constant pressure is maintained upon the upper roll, when the amount of separation between the rolls lies within the limits required for practical operation of a clothes wringer. It will be seen that the mechanism illustrated by the parts 7 to 16 and ,20 comprises likewise a means for imposing upon the movable roll or mangle element 5 an approximately constant pressure. and is ac cordingly a common means for maintaining the'mangle elements in parallelism and im* posmg upon the movable mangle element an yapproximately constant pressure.

Attention is directed to the fact that while pressure upon the twoends ofthe roll or mangle element 5 may be unequal under abnormal conditions the total pressure exerted on the roll 5 to urge it toward the roll 4f is approximately constant.

From the foregoing it is believed that both the operation and the theory of operation of the present wringer will be readily understood by one skilled in the art, but it is pointed out that with power wringers of the conventional type the unevenness or varying size of the load often completely renders the wringer inapt for use, while in the present wringer not only is the pressure between the rollersI positively regulated 'bythe automatic release but also all undue strain such asvwould be caused if suddenly a large wad of clothing was passed between the rollers is prevented.

'Vhile in the foregoing I have shown and described the preferred embodiment of my invention I desire it to be understood that the privilege is reserved to make such changes in construction, combination and arrangement of parts as fall Within the scope of the subjoined claims. Y

What I claim is:

l. A wringer comprising afixed roller and a movable roller, bearing members for the movable roller, a cross beam connecting the bearing members, means for exerting a pressure against the movable roller for moving the movable roller toward and away from the fixed roller, said means including a longitudinally movable equalizing beam spaced from but connected with the cross beam.

2. A power wringer comprising a fixed` ing the separation of the rollers, means associated with the first mentioned means for maintaining the pressure between the rollers constant under normal conditions, and means for automatically releasing the last mentioned means upon upward movement of the movable roller.

4. A power wringer comprising a frame,

upper and lower relatively movable pressure' rolls mounted in said frame, a cross beain carried by one of said rolls, a second cross beam, link bars connecting said beams to the frame and to each other in spaced paring toward and away from said lower roll,

means for restraining the separation of said rolls comprising a cross beam mounted for lvertical movement in said frame but locked against endwise movement, means for connecting said beam with said upper roll, a second cross beam, link bars connecting said beams together, other link bars connecting said first mentioned link bars tothe frame, a cam lever pivoted tol said second cross beam, and a coil spring connected at one end to vsaid frame and at its other endl to said second cross beam, for the purpose described.

6. ln a wringer, a pair of mangle elements one of which is movable; means for forcing the movable mangle element toward the other of said mangle elements, including a shiftable bar, links connecting said bar to the wringer frame, a spring engaging said bar to shift the same in one direction, and an operative connection between bar and said movable mangle element, whereby said movable mangle element is moved toward said stationary-element when the bar lis moved by said spring; and means actuated by the movement of saidmovable mangle element in a direct/ion away from the stationary mangle element for disengaging said spring from said bar.

7. ln a wringer a stationary roll, a movable roll, means for resiliently forcing'the said movable roll toward said stationary roll,

said means including a shiftable member and links connecting said shiftable member to the frame and to the movable roll, a spring normally engaging said ,shiftable member, and means for automatically releasing said spring from said shiftable member when said movable roll has been sepa-` rated from said stationaryroll a predeter- -mined distance. f

' 8. ln a wringer a stationary roll, a movable roll, means for resilienty forcing the movable roll toward said stationary roll, said means including a shiftable `member, and links connecting said shiftable member to the frame and to the movable-roll, a spring normally engaging said shiftable member," means for automatically releasing said spring from said shiftable member kvwhen said movable roll has been separatedd *ffrom said stationary roll a predetermined Afdistance, and manual means for releasing said spring from and reengaging said spring with said shiftablemember.

In testimony whereof I ax my signature.

BaUNsoN s. MCoUrol-IEN,

ist 

